‘Dredd’ Locks in Solid Reviews at Comic-Con Premiere

'Dredd' Locks in Solid Reviews at Comic-Con Premiere

The first world premiere at this year's San Diego Comic-Con was "Dredd," the second attempt to turn the popular antihero from the British comic series "2000 AD" into a big-screen franchise. The original attempt starred Sylvester Stallone as the helmeted, scowly hero; this one features Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy from the new "Star Trek" franchise). And, by all critical accounts — with at least ten reviews filed overnight by some hard working journalists — it is not entirely terrible. Which, for a franchise that began seventeen years ago with an installment that was entirely terrible, is a win however you slice it.

The film, which opens in theaters on September 7th, follows Urban and a new partner (Olivia Thirlby) as they try to escape an enormous apartment tower ruled by a villainous crime boss (Lena Headey). If that sounds a little like this year's Indonesian action sensation "The Raid" that's only because you've seen "The Raid" (Despite the similarities, "Raid" director Gareth Evans tweeted his support for "Dredd," saying the movie "looks great" and he wasn't concerned by the parallels). Stallone's "Judge Dredd" was an expansive film set all over the world; Urban's is stripped down and contained. It's so intense, in fact, Urban doesn't take off the character's distinctive helmet once during the entire picture. His mother's not going to be very pleased about that.

Words like "intense" and "violent" and "Verhoeven" pop up a lot in these reviews, which are mostly pretty positive. Of course, this is Comic-Con, where critical reactions need to be taken with a kryptonite meteorite-sized grain of salt (something I'm going to write more about later this week), so judge them accordingly. Here's the first wave of "Dredd" reviews: